Carmichael to head London-based Content International

ContentFilm, the aggressive one year-old production company launched by Edward R Pressman and John Schmidt, has launched an international sales arm Content International to be based in London and headed by sales veteran Jamie Carmichael.

Carmichael, who will be managing director, will oversee the sale of ContentFilm's titles overseas as well as developing strategic alliances and co-productions with international partners on behalf of the company. Initial films include Sept 11 drama The Guys which stars Sigourney Weaver and Anthony LaPaglia and dark comedy The Cooler with William H Macy and Alec Baldwin.

Carmichael was previously employed at Icon Entertainment International for nearly seven years, most recently holding the post of head of international distribution. He oversaw the sales and distribution of films including We Were Soldiers, What Women Want and An Ideal Husband. He previously held sales positions at Lumiere Pictures with his Icon boss Ralph Kamp and at Majestic Film And Television International with Kamp and Guy East.

"We have wanted to create an international business for ContentFilm since we launched the company one year ago, and in Jamie we've found not only a great businessman but a great person as well," said Schmidt in a statement. "The foreign marketplace is experiencing a bit of turmoil right now, but in a contrarian sense we feel it is the perfect time to launch a foreign sales company that we believe will grow into one of the leaders in this area."

ContentFilm was launched at Toronto last year to finance and produce a slate of lower budget films principally using digital video technology, although three out of the first five films are shot on film. The Guys, which world premieres here, aptly, on Sept 11, is the first Content production to play before an audience.

The Cooler, directed by Wayne Kramer, is in post-production as is Party Monster starring Macauley Culkin, Seth Green and Chloe Sevigny which is a co-production with Killer Films and which is being sold internationally by Fortissimo Film Sales.

Also upcoming are Love Object, a psychological horror film written and directed by Robert Parigi in which Desmond Harrington plays a man who develops an obssessive relationship with an anatomically accurate silicone sex doll, and The Hebrew Hammer starring Adam Goldberg as a Jewish action hero a la Shaft. The film also stars Mario Van Peebles and Andy Dick and is directed by 27 year-old film school graduate Jonathan Kesselman.

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